The "greatest achievement" of critical illness cover is the fact it safeguards against the possibility of people losing their homes, says the man who created it.
Dr Marius Barnard, who launched the first critical illness policy in 1983, said that the fact such policies can cover peoples' mortgage payments offered peace of mind.
He added: "I never thought it [critical illness cover] would turn out to be such a great product all around the world. I started it in 1983 and now it is one of the biggest protection policies. The policy has done exactly what we hoped."
Dr Barnard decided to create critical illness insurance after he noticed that, due to advances in medical knowledge, more people were surviving things like heart attacks and cancer and so needed insurance that paid out while they recovered, instead of after death.
The Association of British Insurers reports that since critical illness cover was introduced in the UK in 1986 the number of people covered by such policies has increased to around 12 million.
Mortgage protection biggest advantage of critical illness cover, says creator
Wed, 23 Jan 2008
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